The Photography Thread

[Gareth C]

You got the Panasonic body I assume? I reckon that lens is a winner judging by all the write ups. Some more nice D lenses to come this year.

[JohnMcL7]

Yeah, I've been eagerly awaiting the new Olympus bodies which were to have IS in the body - this is the case with the new E-510 but it doesn't have the articulating screen, dual liveview nor tank like build quality (from what I've read) of the E-330. So I've been keeping an eye on Panasonic L1 prices as I wanted the 14-50mm lens which irritatingly is not sold on its own. Managed to et the L1 for a daft price which basically meant the body worked out free, I think the two together will cost less than the lens on its own which is meant to be going on sell separately this year.

The Leica D 25mm F1.4 looks good although it's over twice the cost of the 30mm F1.4 with no stabilisation - if it turns out to be worth the cost then I'll definitely be tempted as my current 50mm f2 is often too long.

John

[Ish]

Took my camera along to the local rugby came with me today. I go to every home game but being through winter the light is often bad. Some of my favourites:

[Richard.John]

Pictures from Yoyogi Park

I knew the 70-200 IS was good but the results today have just stunned me.

[Gareth C]

Managed to et the L1 for a daft price which basically meant the body worked out free, I think the two together will cost less than the lens on its own which is meant to be going on sell separately this year.

Yep, the L1 is going cheap all over the place now. the leica version is almost double the price! Admittedly you get better processing and warranty but even so.

You might already be aware but theree are a few lens convertors out for the L1/leica now so you can use lots of standard SLR lenses.

Worth considering as the R range of Leica glass has some lovely lenses at much better prices than the M equivelants.

[Gareth C]

I would also like to know your impressions of the L1. I was a little put off by the talk of the dark and narrow viewfinder, others though have told me that its not a problem.

[JohnMcL7]

Yep, the L1 is going cheap all over the place now. the leica version is almost double the price! Admittedly you get better processing and warranty but even so.

You might already be aware but theree are a few lens convertors out for the L1/leica now so you can use lots of standard SLR lenses.

Worth considering as the R range of Leica glass has some lovely lenses at much better prices than the M equivelants.

Of all of them, it seems Olympus actually have the best version of the three in terms of noise performance - Olympus leave the noise alone whereas the L1/D3 try to reduce it.

John

[JohnMcL7]

I would also like to know your impressions of the L1. I was a little put off by the talk of the dark and narrow viewfinder, others though have told me that its not a problem.

The viewfinder on most of the E series cameras (aside from the E-1) is not great, neither bright or large which is one of the main criticisms of the cameras. In the Olympus E-330, there is an 80% reflective mirror for the viewfinder that lets a bit of light hit a secondary camera sensor to drive the screen allowing one of the live preview modes - this means the viewfinder is slightly dimmer but it's not a bad compromise. The L1/Digilux 3 do not have this secondary sensor (all three cameras share the same central system comprising sensor, SSWF, mirror box, viewfinder) but they still have the partially reflective mirror which is poor - they should have kept the second sensor if they didn't want to change any parts or replaced the mirror, the E-330 is after all the cheapest of the three.

To answer the question, I don't find it too bad - if I have the E-330/L1 side by side with another Olympus E-series camera I do notice the former having a slightly dimmer viewfinder however in general use I don't. If I need to do manual focusing I generally use the liveview mode, if you're using to large bright viewfinders on rival cameras like the D80 and Pentax K10D you probably will be disappointed.

As for the camera itself it has a lot of good features, primarily the manual control - you have a manual aperture ring (with the Leica D lenses), manual shutter speed, drive mode (single shot, burst, bracket, timer), focus mode and exposure mode. So if you want aperture priority, you just choose an aperture and leave the shutter on A or choose a shutter speed and leave the aperture on A for shutter priority. If you want manual, you just choose the shutter and aperture as you want. The built in flash has a bounce setting which is fairly unusual although due to the low power I don't find it that useful, dedicated flashgun is a no brainer. It has the Olympus 'dustbuster' which from what I've seen is still the most effective system for keeping dust off the camera sensor.

Onto the downsides...as much as I like the rangefinder styling, the L1 itself is heavier than a rangefinder and the large stabilised lens also adds a fair bit of weight. This means you really need a more substantial grip to hold it by on the side, I also don't like the shutter placement - I know it goes with the styling but it would be better forward a bit. Also, it takes SD only which is a reasonable format but I would have preferred CF and SD. There's no quick ISO change either, the ISO button is to the left of the screen so you have to take your left hand off the lens barrel, press the iso button, move the wheel on the right checking the main display and then hit ok (or wait). It's clumsy when everything else is quick and manual, on the E-330 you press the d-pad button with your right hand and then dial the new ISO in using the VF display, you don't have to change the camera position. I don't like the lack of articulated screen nor missing live view mode A either. On the four thirds side, although Olympus have a good range of lenses out they're not that easy to get a hold of and nowhere near as popular as Nikon/Canon. High ISO performance is not bad but it's nothing special either.

I quite like the L1 at the moment for the style and manual controls, it's something a little different but I reckon the novelty will wear off and I'll chuck the lens on the E-330 - while it lacks the manual controls and the mode 2 IS (only comes on at half shutter), the handling is better as is the liveview implementation.

John

[Ish]

A couple more from me

[Ginger Tosser]

Nice pics ish/RJ

I must get out more this week to shoot. Had a bit of a wasted weekend (Photo wise anyway)

[Ish]

Thanks GT. I've not been so busy with my camera lately. Too many things to do! But with spring on the way I'm feeling really inspired to get out there again.

I'd quite like a wide angle lens for this year. Has anyone got any recommendations (Nikon mount)?

[MartyG]

First day of spring today - and it's bloody freezing.

I've been playing around with Photoshop Elements recently, giving the trial a go atm. I generally do very little with my photos other than playing with the curves and cropping, but I've been having a bit of fun with self-portraits and done this one: http://picasaweb.google.com/martypg/...33931434177090

The pic was originally taken with a Vivitar DVR310, bought for £18

[Richard.John]

Ueno Zoo....

[Alastair]

Assume they're all with the 70-200 IS Richard. Damn nice lens you've got yourself by the look of them shots!!

[Ginger Tosser]

Lovely clear images once more.

Suppose the advantage in not shooting means you can revisit your library. So here's one I did earlier......



Cropped, adjusted etc on CS3